Customer Reviews

Side By Side: Spanish and English Grammar

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have about a dozen Spanish books including courses and grammars at various levels, and several audio type courses, and this is probably the most learning tool/book I have. The book's method of putting the English and Spanish side by side is very helpful, but the best thing is the explanation of all the tenses, which I don't always keep in my head. For example, many people aren't going to remember what the pluperfect past progressive tense is, or the imperfect subjunctive, and so on, and this book was great to remind me about those and what the corresponding Spanish forms are.

The book does this for all the different basic parts of speech: verbs, nouns, pronouns, prepositions, interjections, conjunctions, and so on. The tables and sections don't always align exactly on the facing pages, since there aren't always exact correspondences between the two languages, but I didn't mind that too much. For example, although technically English has the subjunctive tense, it's really almost a vestigial construction, but in Spanish there is a complete system of marking the subjunctive which is still very active, and the rules, although fairly consistent, can get pretty detailed. Spanish also has a second preterite tense that English doesn't have, the co-preterite or preterite anterior, as it's called in Spanish, and the two aren't interchangeable, so you need to know how they work and what the differences are.

So overall, an excellent book and probably the most helpful Spanish book I have, although it's not intended to be an exhaustive grammar. Some people might find the explanations a little technical, and I note one or two people here commented on that, but again, I didn't mind that too much. This book is a great value considering it really doesn't cost that much.

I only have one other book that is similar to this one, which is Spanish Verb Tenses, by Dorothy Devney Richmond. It is only on the verbal system and has less technical descriptions of the verbs than this book, which might be better for some people. The book also has a workbook section with exercises which some people might find helpful. It also includes appendices of verb tables of regular and irregular verbs; the preterite, future, and conditional conjugations; tables for the present and imperfect subjunctive moods; and a separate table for the modal auxiliary haber.

Finally, there is a Spanish to English and English to Spanish glossary with definitions of several hundred verbs, and a long list of verbs that take a preposition. This book is also very reasonably priced and I can recommend it too.

One of the hardest parts to learning a new language is learning the grammar of spoken language. We aquired English, not learned it. We know what makes sense, and what doesn't without fully understanding the rules that govern how we speak. This is why our spoken language makes sense, but we can't always explain why or what about it makes it work. Even well trained writers don't need to fully understand all of the rules of the spoken language. This is what makes this book very helpful - it uses what all native English speakers already know and understand to explain the rules of Spanish. Through English examples, the book clearly demonstrates how Spanish works. Read the book and your Spainish will improve, as well as your English!

I was rather disappointed in some aspects of this book. The pages are divided into columns, with an explanation of the Spanish application of a concept in one column and the explanation of the corresponding English concept in the other. Unfortunately, the columns do not align well, and the English and Spanish examples of the concepts do not align. I was surprised at how difficult this made reading the book. I also found the explanations overly technical and I had difficulty comprehending the linguistic terms (but perhaps this is my limitation, not the books.) I would recommend Spanish Verbs and Essentials of Grammar by Ina Ramboz or the Practice Makes Perfect series as better alternatives.

If you know some Spanish, but really want some concise help to improve, this is it! And if you are a teacher of Spanish-speaking students who need help with English grammar, this is double it!!

My parents gave this book to me for Christmas when I was taking Spanish 1 when I was 15 years old. This book taught me a great deal of Emglish grammar that I didn't know. That helped with learning the Spanish grammar. I give it four stars because there are few spelling errors and it doesn't teach the differences between ser and estar and the differences between por and para the way I would like it to. At the end, the book talks about the "future subjunctive", but it didn't give an explanation. That bothered me a little bit because I wanted to know it.
Other than that, this is a good book.

Brandon Simpson

i found the book to be helpful for me and my students--many who despite being in the gifted strand, still don't grasp all grammar. for me it reminded me of what i had learned long ago (i am 50) and reinforced the grammar in the wonderful side-by-side way the book is written. great for busy people who need to know a specific concept NOW so they can apply it.

As a Spanish teacher, I'm often having to explain the "WHY" behind Spanish usage. This book allows me to quickly find a short explanation of the English grammar without having to teach an entire English grammar lesson before going into the Spanish grammar.

For the self-teaching Spanish student, it might not be as useful, but I reference it frequently for all my classes.

It's not for young students, though. For them, try Flip Flop Spanish (of course, I'm a bit biased!)

Sra. Gose
Author of Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 1 & Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 2

I ordered this Saturday and got it Monday. I LOVE Amazon Prime. Money well spent considering how often I shop this site.

As for this particular item: SIDE-BY-SIDE SPANISH & ENGLISH GRAMMER ... EXCELLENT BUY! The student that will be using it no sooner had it in his hands when I noticed him already on the couch and engrossed with the book. When he finally took a break I asked, "good book?" He picked it up again and proceeded to tell me all about it: "It's exactly what I needed without knowing that I needed it. the sided to side is even better. I love how it gives clear examples of the all the tenses in verbs (past, present, future). I can't wait to really get started on it later tonight!"

I also ordered him the INGLES HECHO FACIL book and from the quick skim I saw a lot of potential in putting the two books together. I'm very excited to expand his learning with these two new tools. Flipping between the books and Rosetta Stone keeps him interested and doesn't burn him out.

Having learnt French as an adult alongside English-speakers from the US, Canada, UK, S. Africa and Australia, I have seen how difficult Latin languages are for many of them. This is despite the fact that English vocabulary is 40% Latin (via Norman French melding with Middle English into Modern English) and the grammar and syntax of English are much closer to modern Romance languages than to modern Germanic.

The essential problem is that many English-speakers, even the University-educated, are not entirely familiar with their own grammar. Too often, when a Spanish teacher informs an English-speaker about adjectives and adverbs, past participle etc., there is profound confusion in the student. This is particularly so in countries such as the U.S. where the spoken language is largely learned non-formally and formal English is not placed on the cultural pedestal as it is in the UK or in France, for example. So the poor English-speaking learner has to relearn or learn the basic concepts of grammar before he can readily digest the Spanish equivalent.

It is very telling that even in US newscasts, grammatical and pronunciation errors are repeated over and over and no one points them out; in France, letters would flood in complaining of a newsreader's faux pas. More often than not, one hears the incorrect "different than" when it should be "different TO" or "different FROM". Another common error is confusion in the choice of "between each other" versus "between one another"; "each" refers to an individual and so "each other" refers to two individuals (such as "husband and wife"), whereas "one another" refers to more than two people ("members of Congress"). The equivalent in French would be "l'un et l'autre" versus "les uns et les autres".

This book addresses that gap, much like the Fluency video program, by reinforcing our native language's grammar first. Then it is becomes clear that Spanish grammar becomes much more akin to that of English. If you can't tell what's correct in English, how can one comprehend the equivalent in Spanish? As one can see, Spanish (and French and Italian...) grammar is very similar to that of English.

I like the idea of the book but was dismayed to find 3 errors on one page. I went to the publisher's website to see if they put out an errata page but none was there. (I am using the Second Edition 6th printing)

The mistakes I found (this was the second page I was reading !) on p.43 are:
1. reference to Appendix I, p. 121 should be p. 145
2. (referring to the English what?) It does have different forms for gender and number. should be 'does NOT'
3. (referring to ¿cuál?) ..there are different forms to show gender and number should be different forms to show number (not gender)